


Bleach: The Reawakened War

by WriterByDarkness



Category: Bleach
Genre: (Sort of) Fix-It Fic, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Canon, poor Ichigo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterByDarkness/pseuds/WriterByDarkness
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki seems to be living a perfect life, ten years after his defeat of Yhwach. But all that changes when he hears a mysterious voice while watching his friend Chad's championship boxing match.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing against any of the ships in the ending of Bleach. I did, however, feel like the ending was rushed and left several major plot points unexplained. This fic is my attempt to make sense of it all. As for shipping, I have no idea what ships (If any) will be present in this. Expect canon-typical swearing and violence!

Ichigo Kurosaki sat in his living room, trying to watch his friend's boxing match on TV and wondering why he was hearing voices again.

" **Ichigo...** " whispered the voice in his head insistently. " **Ichigo, do you not see the truth of the world around you? Wake up, Ichigo.** " The voice was low, gravelly, and deep, sounding like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. What unsettled Ichigo even more was that the voice sounded almost familiar, though he couldn't place why.

Ichigo felt a chill run down his spine at its ominous words." _Why did this have to happen today, of all days? Is a simple, peaceful life where no one I love gets hurt and nothing crazy happens to me too much to ask for?_ " he silently reflected. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and focus on the match that was currently underway on the television in front of him.

Suddenly, the voice spoke again. " **Ichigo! This world is false, can you not see the lies within it?** "

" _Go away,_ " Ichigo thought weakly, " _You aren't even real._ "

The voice continued, sounding even more strident than before. " **Did you ever stop to wonder what happened to Kisuke Urahara? Or even Ryuken Ishida? Ichigo, you are living a lie.** "

As unsettling as it was, Ichigo had to admit that the voice had a point there, and if Ichigo learned one thing for his Shinigami days, it was that sometimes random voices were worth listening to. After his final battle with Yhwach, it was so chaotic for a couple of days. Everyone pitched in to help keep the worlds together in the absence of the Soul King. Before long, Mayuri, Urahara, and the other scientists somehow managed to resurrect the Soul King, or make a new one, or something like that. At that point, it was "suggested" that he and his friends go back to Karakura Town, where before long he and Orihime began to date. With all of that having happened, he had never quite found time to figure out what happened to Ryuken or Urahara, who he'd always assumed just stayed in the Soul Society. Now that he thought about it, he also couldn't remember quite how they had solved the dilemma with the Soul King. " _Why can't I remember these things all of a sudden? Maybe after the boxing match and the celebrating is done, I'll go to Soul Society and try to track down Urahara. It might be a nice change of pace, and it'd certainly be nice to see him again. But why have I forgotten all this shit?_ " Ichigo frowned, lost in thought.

"Ichigo, you doin' okay?" asked Tatsuki, who was sitting on the sofa next to him. "You seem a little unsettled by something." He jumped, startled out of his reverie.

Ichigo replied, trying to keep his voice as even and casual as possible. "Oh? Yeah, I'm fine. Just feelin' kinda thirsty. I know we have soda, but I think I'll go get a glass of ice water. You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine with soda." she said offhandedly. "Whatever floats your boat, though."

Ichigo stood up abruptly and walked over to the kitchen, where, since he suddenly felt quite weak in the knees, he leaned on the wall and put his head in his hands. " _What the hell is going on here? I'm hearing voices, and Maybe I'm just stressed about Chad's match, and I'm so tired that I'm hearing things. That must be it, this is nothing to worry about. I'm fine, nothing's gone wrong._ " He repeated the last phrase to himself several times, until he had almost convinced himself it was true. He stood up, and was about to go back to the living room, when he saw it. On the wall across from him, there was a large crack. Curious, he walked over to inspect it. " _Guess I'll have to repaint this soon. Hey, maybe I could get Kazui involved, make this a little family project. That'd be fun!_ " No sooner had he thought this, however, when he noticed the oddest thing about the crack.

Inside, he could see nothing but blackness. While this wasn't unusual at all, since the wall there was hollow, the fact that the blackness was _shimmering_ was. Also, the fact the he could feel a faint spiritual pressure radiating from it was cause for concern. "What the hell?" Ichigo questioned aloud, wondering again about his apparent inability to have a normal life. "Orihime? Can you come here a second? I found something kind of odd."

In a few seconds, Orihime walked in front the kitchen. "What is it, Kurosaki-kun? Is the fridge acting up again?"

"No," replied Ichigo. "There's this weird crack in the wall, here, could you come take a look at it?"

Orihime quizzically examined the spot on the wall that Ichigo had indicated. After a second, she turned to Ichigo. "Uh, Kurosaki-kun... There's no crack there, at least none that I can see. Are you sure you aren't tired, or stressed?" She smiled. "I'm going back to go watch the match. Maybe you should take a quick nap, or have some water!"

Ichigo sighed heavily, and rested his head in his hands again. Just as he was beginning to wonder what his next course of action should be, he heard a loud sharp crack, like ice shattering, right behind him. Ichigo jumped, turning around reflexively as he did. Looking behind him, he saw another crack, similar to the first one, forming in the wall behind him. More noises echoed around him, like a volley of machine gun fire. Cracks were forming all around him now, even suspended in the air, as if the very fabric of the world was shattering, tearing itself apart.

"Ah, fuck me! What's happening now?" Ichigo yelped in surprise, as the tears spread, beginning to encircle him. He turned all around, trying to find a break in the circle of cracks that now surrounded him.

Through the noise and clamor, the voice spoke again, sounding almost pleased. " **See, Ichigo? As you realize the inconstancy of your prison, it begins to dissolve around you! Soon, you shall awaken.** "

Panicking, Ichigo attempted to run through the barrier of cracks, but found that they were unyielding, the black surface they revealed glimmering remotely. He pounded furiously against his prison, but to no avail. Ichigo was completely surrounded now, the cracks so thick around him that he was only faintly able to see through the barrier. For a second, everything fell completely silent, in stark contrast to the cacophony of before.

Then, with one final earsplitting crack, Ichigo Kurosaki's world shattered around him. Instead of his home, it now seemed as if he was floating, bodiless, in a black void. For a second, Ichigo was puzzled, until a terrible thought occurred to him. During his final battle against Yhwach all those years ago, Yhwach had taunted him, saying "Even if you manage to defeat me, I shall return on your happiest day..." or some other empty taunt like that. Except it wasn't just an empty threat, was it? He really had come back, and had used some stupid power or something to trap him in this abyss! What if he'd just be left floating here forever? Just as Ichigo began to panic, however, he realized he could feel something now, at the ends of his fingers and toes. Not only that, but the world around him was beginning to lighten! " _Maybe this was just some crazy nightmare, and I'll be back in my bed in a second,_ " Ichigo thought hopefully as the world brightened around him and feeling returned to his body. When his vision had come back enough for him to see clearly, however, he realized that if he was in a nightmare, it still had him in its grasp. The place that he woke up in was not his bed, or even anywhere he recognized.

He was floating vertically about a foot off the floor, encased in a tube made out of what seemed to be opaque spiritual pressure, which glowed a malevolent purple, humming with power. Looking down at himself, he seemed to be wearing the same type of garb that he had worn during his last battle, though this outfit was in far better shape. Above and below him were circular grey pads carved in the shape of hungry mouths. The one on top had the word "Seal" carved on it in white, while the one on bottom was inscribed with "Sleep" in the same color.

"And here I thought this day couldn't get any goddamn weirder," Ichigo muttered. "Wonder how strong this barrier is. Maybe I could shatter it?" As Ichigo tried to raise his spiritual pressure to break free, however, he noticed something stranger still. He couldn't access his spiritual pressure; it was blocked, like a dammed river. When he tried to control it, he could feel it surging, but it was trapped behind a wall in his mind.

Ichigo concentrated hard, calling every bit of his spiritual pressure to bear, pushing against the wall. He thought, perhaps, he could feel the wall weakening behind the massive weight of his power. He kept marshalling his spiritual energy, and before long the mental wall cracked, buckled, and finally crumbled.

Ichigo's newly-released spiritual pressure surged out around him. The barrier surrounding him sizzled against the sudden onslaught, and finally winked out of existence with one final zap. Unfortunately for Ichigo, the force levitating him also dissipated, leaving him to tumble awkwardly to the ground. Slowly,gingerly, he picked himself up off the ground and assessed the strange new place which he found himself in.

He was in a low-ceilinged rectangular room, made of white stone. The room was dimly lit, but there was enough light to see by. The tube that Ichigo had escaped from was against one of the longer walls, next to six tubes similar to the one he had emerged from.

One of these tubes was off.

Its former inhabitant was standing next to a large control panel on one of the shorter walls, with his bow drawn and pointed at Ichigo, the spirit arrow glimmering in the dimness. When he saw that it was Ichigo, however, he relaxed his grip on the bow and called to Ichigo, "Kurosaki! What're you doing here?"

Ichigo grinned widely and, happy to be reunited, walked over to his friend. "Ishida! Man, it's good to see a friendly face after the day that I've had. Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"Not really," replied Ishida. "I only woke up a few minutes before you did, and it took me a while to figure out how to disable the tube's restraints on my spiritual pressure. Whoever designed these really did not want us to escape. Once I did manage to get out, though, I spent most of that time examining this, until you showed up. Scared me half to death, too, with all the banging and zapping. What did you do, just shatter the barrier?" He waved a hand at the panel beside him, which had several dials and buttons on it, flashing in various colors. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this panel controls those tubes, but I can't figure out how to make it turn them off."

Ichigo, looking thoughtful, said, "So... This controls the tubes, huh? I think I know a way to turn it off. You might want to stand back, though." With that, Ichigo reached for the massive sword sheathed on his back and plunged it deep into the console with a thunderous crack. The lights on the panel flickered and died in a shower of sparks.

Ishida jumped back in surprise and yelled, "Kurosaki! Why did you do that? You could have triggered an alarm, or... or hurt whoever's in the tubes! There are more ways to solve a problem than hitting it, you know."

"Jeez, I just figured that if it was connected to the tubes, they would deactivate if it turned off," replied Ichigo defensively.

Ishida sighed, and turned to face the tubes, which were now beginning to flicker, disconnected from their control panel. "Well, I suppose it did work... Just give me a little warning next time, you almost gave me a heart attack!" he said, smiling.

The tubes deactivated simultaneously, and out tumbled more of Ichigo's comrades: Chad, Orihime, Renji, Rukia, Ganju. Most of the people who had fought by his side in the climactic battle against Yhwach. "What on _earth_ is going on here?" mused Ichigo aloud at the sight of his newly freed friends. "I don't know, but I have a feeling that it isn't anything good," replied Ishida as their friends groggily began to awaken.


End file.
